Hamas, Jihad to Avoid Cairo Meeting

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two Palestinian groups that have conducted scores of suicide bombings in Israel, said Tuesday they will not attend talks in Cairo on ending attacks on Israeli civilians.

Egyptian officials have said they were hopeful Palestinian factions invited for talks here this week would approve a proposal for a one-year halt in attacks on Israeli civilians.

Moussa Abu Marzook, a Hamas leader, told The Associated Press that "Hamas will not attend the meetings in Cairo because not all Palestinian factions were invited."

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad, Tariq Nikhala, also said his movement is changing its earlier position to accept an Egyptian invitation to the discussion scheduled for Thursday.

"The Jihad can only take part in an expanded meeting in which all are invited," Nikhala said.

Later, the two groups said in a statement they are not boycotting the talks but "we are asking for a comprehensive Palestinian dialogue."

Egypt invited several key Palestinian factions for this week's talks but left out smaller ones. Hamas and Islamic Jihad expect they will be under pressure by Egypt and Yasser Arafat's Fatah group.

In a separate statement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, whose delegates are in Cairo, urged Egypt to invite two other Palestinian factions, the PFLP-General command and the pro-Syrian Saaqa faction, to the talks.

Egyptian officials said Tuesday that Egypt had not been formally informed of the two groups' decision.

A Fatah delegation headed by Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Mahmoud Abbas was already in Cairo for the talks.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said last week that initial talks between Palestinian factions hosted by Egypt have seen some development in the direction of halting Palestinian operations, but that no agreement was reached.